Past Exhibitions
All About Shoes: Footwear Through the Ages – Permanent Exhibition
Temporary Exhibitions:
Exhibit A: Investigating Crime & Footwear
April 2024 – September 2025
Dressed To Impress: Footwear and Consumerism In The 1980s
October 2023 – March 2025
In Bloom: Flowers and Footwear
April 2023 – September 2024
Obsessed: How Shoes Became Objects of Desire
October 2022 – March 2024
Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks
May 2022 – September 2023
The Great Divide: Footwear in The Age of Enlightenment
August 2020 – March 2023
All Dolled Up: Fashioning Cultural Expectations
October 2021 – October 2022
Art & Innovation: Traditional Arctic Footwear from the BSM Collection
February 2010 – April 2022
The Gold Standard: Glittering Footwear From Around the Globe
December 2017 – September 2021
WANT: Desire, Design and Depression Era Footwear
January 2019 – April 2020
Manolo Blahnik: The Art of Shoes
May 2018 – January 2019
Fashion Victims: The Pleasures and Perils of 19th Century Dress
June 2014 – April 2018
Standing Tall: The Curious History of Men in Heels
May 2015 – November 2017
Beauty, Identity, Pride: Native North American Footwear
November 2007 – January 2016
Collected in the Field: Shoemaking Traditions from Around the World
January 2013 – April 2015
Out of the Box: The Rise of Sneaker Culture
April 2013 – June 2014
Roger Vivier: Process to Perfection
May 2012 – April 2013
Art in Shoes/Shoes in Art
October 2010 – May 2012
The Roaring 20’s: Hemlines, Heels and High Hopes
April 2011 – January 2012
Socks: Between You and Your Shoes
March 2010 – April 2011
On a Pedestal: From Renaissance Chopines to Baroque Heels
November 2009 – September 2010
Chronicles of Riches: Treasures from the Bata Shoe Museum Collection
January 2007 – October 2009
Bound for Glory: Cutting Edge Winter Sports Footwear
March 2008 – March 2009
On Pointe: The Rise of the Ballet Shoe
April 2008 – February 2009
The Charm of Rococo: Femininity and Footwear in the 18th century
June 2006 – April 2008
Watched by Heaven, Tied to Earth: Summoning Animal Protection for Chinese Children
March 2006 – October 2007
Icons of Elegance: Influential Shoe Designers of the 20th century
September 2005 – January 2007
Beads, Buckles and Bows: Five Hundred Years of Embellished Footwear
August 2004 – June 2006
Appeasing the Spirits: Alaskan Coastal Cultures
May 2004 – February 2006
Paths Across the Plains: Native Footwear of the Great Plains
October 2003 – September 2005
The Perfect Pair: Wedding Shoe Stories
June 2002 – May 2004
Heights of Fashion: A History of the Elevated Foot
September 2001 – September 2002
On Canadian Ground: Stories of Footwear in Early Canada
July 2000 – September 2002
Every Step a Lotus: Shoes in the Lives of Chinese Women from Late Imperial China
January 2001 – June 2002
Design A Foot: Athletic Shoes 1995-2000
December 2000 – September 2001
Herbert and Beth Levine: An American Pair
June 1999 – November 2000
Japanese Footgear: Walking the Path of Innovation
February 1999 – June 2000
Paduka: Feet and Footwear in the Indian Tradition
September 1999 – January 2000
Footsteps on the Sacred Earth: Native Peoples of the Southwest
July 1998 – September 1999
Little Feats: A Celebration of Children’s Shoes
October 1998 – May 1999
Dance: Social Dance from 1750 – 1980
March 1997 – February 1999
The Taming of the Shoe: From Attic to Exhibition
December 1997 – September 1998
Spirit of Siberia: Traditional Native Life, Clothing & Footwear
June 1997 – June 1998
Rock n’ Sole: Basketball Shoes
February 1997 – December 1997
Footwear Fantasia: Shoe Sculptures by Garry Greenwood
April 1997 – November 1997
Tradition and Innovation: Northern Athapaskan Footwear
June 1996 – June 1997
Loose Tongues and Lost Soles: Shoes in Cartoon and Caricature
August 1996 – January 1997
Shoe Dreams: Designs by Andrea Pfister
May 1996 – January 1997
The Gentle Step: 19th Century Women’s Shoes
May 1995 – February 1997
Inuit Boots: A Woman’s Art
May 1995 – May 1996
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe: Illustrations from Contemporary Children’s Books about Shoes
May 1995 – April 1996